Barents Sea polar bears appear to be doing well, as measured by body condition and reproductive success, despite sea ice declines, which means it is doubtful if their population size has declined significantly since 2004.

Probably most interesting of all is that long range forecasters are issuing catastrophic warnings (they are quite extreme) but the UK Met says that’s “irresponsible”, and that trying to predict the weather that far in advance is “crystal ball” gazing. (Oh really?) They didn’t seem so concerned about predicting hot horrors on longer timeframes…